


Like Puzzle Pieces in a Game of Chess

by Hierophantastic



Series: A YT-1250 filled with fools [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Mythology/Religion, Bounty Hunters, Canon Compliant, Its just the one pit droid actually, Pit droids, Takes place sometime between TPM and AotC, because who doesnt love pit droids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 14:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19703236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hierophantastic/pseuds/Hierophantastic
Summary: A religious pilot down on his luck meets a mechanic-turned-bounty-hunter, who unknowingly acts as an agent of his Gods.Thus, a crew was born. Or at least the beginnings of one.





	Like Puzzle Pieces in a Game of Chess

The Twi’lek moved unhurried as she patted down the body of the man with whom she had been sharing a drink until just a few moments ago, when he had pulled a blaster on her. 

She had been faster.

Her mechanical left hand fumbled with the clasp of his bag in one of the few moments where she wished for a nimbler prosthetic. But Taila Sycusa was a practical woman, and the plasma torch and vibro-blade she had built into it, among other things, while making the entire thing _look_ huge and impractical, had gotten her out of a few scrapes already.

She settled for reaching over the table with her right arm, the green flesh finger opening the bag in seconds. _Let’s see now... A few credits, some protein bars…_

Her eyes, both her real one and the mechanical replacement of her left one, widened in appreciation when she found what she had been looking for, the keys to her short-lived friend’s ship.

Now, all she needed was a pilot. A smile pulled at her lips, making the burnt left side of her face grimace. A good start into her new life as an intergalactic bounty hunter, she thought, if she could say so herself.

***

Janos Celt sat at the bar in one of the many cantina’s neighbouring the landing zone in one of the many lawless Outer Rim planets. Not for the first time that day, he cursed himself for entering that game of sabacc, losing all his money and his ship in the process. Again. He always got it back eventually -the ship that is, the money not so much- but it still sucked.

He fingered his necklace, a pendant showing a fanged beast, a winged angel, and an old man.

“Lot of help you were,” he muttered the accusation at the Gods, but quickly brought his knuckles to his forehead in a gesture of respect. The Gods might not have helped him, but it’s not like they had time to spare for every gambler down on his luck. Surely they had better things to do.

Still, it would have been nice if they lent a hand now and then. He sent a quick prayer for vengeance to the Fanged God, and one for justice to the Winged Goddess. The bastard who had won from him had surely been cheating, so it was justice in a way.

His musings were interrupted by a green Twi’lek woman wearing a sleeveless black shirt and pants -that showed her figure in a very flattering way- entering the cantina. What stood out even more than her figure, however, was the metal. She must have been caught in an explosion once because her left side was more prosthetic than flesh. Her mechanical arm seemed to consist of solid metal, the plating hiding the intricate machinery that made it tick, and her left eye, surrounded by a ring of metal, gave of a soft blue light, its colour matching her real eye. A burn scar marred the left side of her face and her lekku seemed shorter on that side as well

Still, she had a confident smile on her lips and a daring twinkle in her eye that told him that, whatever had happened to make her like that, she didn’t let it drag her down.

The woman moved from table to table talking quietly with the patrons, until one pointed at him and she headed his way. Janos turned his gaze back to his drink, as if he hadn’t been following her all across the room with his eye. The woman sat down on a stool beside him, ordered a drink, and turned to look at him. Jason said nothing.

What he did was calmly putting one hand on his right thigh, angled away from her, so that it was resting near his quarterstaff which was leaning against the bar.

After a moment of silence in which both quietly nursed their drinks, the Twi’lek scraped her throat. “I’m looking for a pilot," she said. "You seem to be quite a good one, if I hear the stories right.”

Janos snorted. Most of his daring stunts are a mix of luck and prayer with just enough skill sprinkled on top to not be entirely impossible. That was the reason he had not abandoned the Gods yet. They might not always listen, but he knew he could count on them in the cockpit.

That, and mom would be dissapointed. She would do that shake of her head that Pit seemed to have inherited from her, one of the few things he learned from mother instead of father-

And kriff, Pit was still on the ship! He’d have to get the little droid back, there was no way he was letting that cheating sleemo get away with both his ship and his droid.

“Yeah well, a pilot isn’t worth much without a ship, and I lost mine,” he said, turning his mind back to the conversation. “So I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”

The Twi’lek smiled again. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve recently… acquired one.”

Janos raised an eyebrow in a silent question. 

“It was an inheritance, of sorts. From a drinking buddy. Our friendship was short-lived, but I’ll never forget what he’s done for me.”

He huffed out a laugh and shook his head. He was already starting to like her.

“Alright, so you have a ship. What do you need me for?”

“To fly it, of course!”

Rolling his eyes, he clarified, “Yeah but, where to?”

"Well, it's more of a permanent offer. I've decided to make a career change a while back. You see, life as a mechanic wasn't bad, but I had to quit. So I decided to become a bounty hunter. Except there's only so much to do on this rock, and since I'm not much of a pilot myself I need to hire one. So. You become my pilot, and you'll get a part of my bounties, plus a place to sleep and a ship to fly. Deal?"

In his current situation it sounded too good to be true. He eyed her for a second, and she looked at him with a daring smile and the soft blue of her robotic eye shining like a blessing from the Winged Goddess herself. He smiled back. "I'll have to go get Pit first, but sure. And then, when you die on your first hunt, I'll inherit the ship as a result of our short but fantastic friendship." She couldn't be much older than him -if she was at all- and he was only twenty-one, so there might be a very real chance of that happening. 

She laughed and clapped him on the back. "I'll have you know, I've already had my first hunt. And my second, and my third. Almost everyone here has a bounty on their head somewhere. The problem is finding local bounties." She downed her drink and stood up. He grabbed her arm to stop her and somhow managed not to flinch when she twisted around and a vibroblade suddenly shot out of her prosthetic hand, stopping just before it punctured his throat. _Well, interesting._

"...I just wanted to ask your name."

The look of fury on her face dissolved into surprise and then laughter, and Janos started to feel embarrassed, especially when some of the other patrons snickered along with her. Shouldn't she be the one to feel embarrassed, being the one who grew a knife out of her limb in response to an innocent question?

Then again, she had a knife in her limb. Janos wouldn't be embarrassed either if he had that. To be honest, he was kind of jealous. 

"Sorry about that," the Twi'lek said, retracting her blade and extending her hand. Her flesh hand, Janos couldn't help but notice. He wondered if she had any other tricks up her sleeve, and he would applaud himself for that pun had she actually worn sleeves. 

He took her hand in his. "I'm Taila Sycusa, pleased to meet you."

They shook. "Janos Celt, at your service."

Her lips quirked and she pulled him of his stool, but not before he finished his drink. "Come on, let's go check out my new ship."

***

Janos was an interesting man, Taila thought. At first glance, he seemed like any other human. His skin was a chocolate-brown, his hair dark as space itself. His brown pilot's vest and pants were just a tad darker than his skin and he wore them well. All in all, she found him quite handsome even though he could pass for any ordinary human, who as a species never really caught her fancy before.

But his eyes were a surprising golden-yellow, hinting at non-human genes. And the symmetrical black tattoos that decorated his face, encircling his eyes, spreading out to his temples like wings and curling down to his cheekbones like the claws of a beast were interesting as well. Taila had seen plenty of different species and knew Zabrak tattoos when she saw them.

So, Janos Celt was an interesting person, good-humoured, not bad to look at, supposedly a great pilot, and pleasant company. She could count herself lucky that he had agreed to be her pilot.

There was just one complication.

"That's my ship!"

"What?"

"This one! The one you say is yours! She's mine!"

Taila let out a sigh and readjusted the bag at her hip. Her rifle was digging into the bone. She inspected the YT-1250. "What do you mean, it's yours?"

Janos rubbed his neck. "Well, I lost a game of sabacc..."

"So it's technically not your ship anymore."

The man grumbled something incoherent, then suddenly a thoughtful look came on his face. "Say, what happened to the guy who won from me? Tall, blonde, goatee?"

"Ah, my short-lived friend. I shot him."

Janos seemed to contemplate that for a moment, looking up at the sky. Then he muttered, so soft she almost couldn't hear it, "I'l be damned, they were actually listening. Well, if this is what they want of me-."

He walked forward then, turning toward her and spreading his arms wide with the ship behind him. "In that case, my new friend, if you've got the keys and lower the ramp I'll give you a tour of my darling, the Pilot's Prayer." His white teeth gleamed as he smiled at her proudly like a showman displaying his tricks.

"Your ship's called the Pilot's Prayer," she deadpanned.

"Man, is that all you understood?" he lamented. "Just hurry up and lower the ramp. Pit's still on the ship."

"Pit?" she questioned as she entered the keycode to lower the ramp.

"He's a droid. Repairs the things that need repairing. Tries to keep me out of trouble. He's also occasionally my co-pilot."

Taila thought for a moment. Then, hesitantly, she asked, "Is he a pit-droid, by any chance?"

Janos looked at her, surprise on his face. "How'd you know?"

Quietly, she groaned. "Truly, your capacity for naming is astounding." 

"Thank you, but the honour of naming him belonged to my dad," he said, actually sounding _sincere_.

***

When the ramp lowered Pit was already waiting tapping his foot impatiently. He struck an imposing figure, with them at the bottom of the ramp. It was nice to feel tall once in a while. As soon as Karne's kid was in sight he started his rant.

"And where the kriff have you been, huh? Gambling again, I bet. Do you know how long I've been waiting here!? Next time we land I'm coming with you and none of that 'cantina's here don't serve droids' or 'you can be quite overwhelming'. We're getting of this rock _right kriffing now_ and doing something, 'cause I am bored out of mind!

"And who the kriff is this?"

It was then that he noticed the cyborg Twi'lek who was staring at him with a shocked expression. Pit knew he was unusual for a droid. A personality as well developed as his was not something you often saw. Pit was who he was because he had never had a memory wipe in the thirty-five years of his life.

"Pit, this is Taila Sycusa. She's a friend. We're her pilots now." Janos was unfazed by his tirade, as always. The kid was as good-natured as his father.

"Are we? First I've heard of it." Pit folded his arms, glaring up with his one eye while being physically incapable of glaring. It was a talent he had honed over many years and was particularly proud of.

Their 'new friend' had apparently recovered from the shock of seeing someone being enthusiastically scolded by a pit-droid. She put on a smile and spread her arms.

"Well technically it's mine now. Janos here-"

"-lost a game of sabacc or dejarik or whatever to you?"

He shook his head in dissapointment.

The Twi'lek shrugged apologetically and he absentmindedly wondered why she had settled for only three fingers on her prosthetic. Cheaper, maybe? "Not really. He lost to someone else and I killed the guy and stole the keys."

Pit contemplated this for a moment before turning back to Janos. "So if she's just a thief-"

"Bounty hunter-"

"-why haven't you stolen it back?"

"Well, I prayed to the Gods for vengeance and justice and she killed him so it must have been-"

"If you're gonna say it was the will of the Gods I'm kicking you of this ship right now."

Janos strode past him with a fond smile, followed by an amused and somewhat confused Taila. Pit let out a robotic sigh.

"I never had any problems with religion before your mother came along," the droid muttered before following them.

Apparently they were the personal taxi service for a bounty hunter now. Kriffing hells. When Karne had asked him to keep his kid out of trouble he hadn't thought it would be so much work.

Oh well. Hopefully that Taila _didn't_ lose their ship in a sabacc game yearly.

***

Janos was laughing in the cockpit at a joke Taila had made. Pit was grumbling about youngsters these days.

And Janos Celt felt more at home than he ever had since his parents died.

He could almost hear the beating of wings, feel fangs biting in his skin. He was fairly sure the Gods were meddling in his life and unsure why. He wasn't complaining, however.

Even though he still felt like he was missing something, right now everything fit together perfectly, even if he was unsure of the 'how' and 'why'. Like puzzle pieces in a game of chess.

Man, he sucked at metaphores. That's one thing he didn't inherit from mom.


End file.
